


New Snow, Old Problems

by A_Cloudy_Day_In_AU_Hell



Category: Pocket Monsters SPECIAL | Pokemon Adventures
Genre: Angst, I wrote this before I knew Pryce wasn't actually dead, Suspicion, feeling cute might write an entire sequel later idk, first fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-26
Updated: 2019-08-26
Packaged: 2020-09-27 12:10:09
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,405
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20407531
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/A_Cloudy_Day_In_AU_Hell/pseuds/A_Cloudy_Day_In_AU_Hell
Summary: Pryce, formerly of Mahogany Town, has vanished into the timestream. Now, Hailey has stepped up to take his place, but not without scrutiny. Morty knows she's hiding something. What it is, he's not sure, but it doesn't seem to be what every expecting.





	New Snow, Old Problems

**Author's Note:**

> Sksksksksk First of all, thank you to everyone who gave me feedback on this fic, it really means a lot to me. This is the first time I've actually finished anything written outside of school, so I was extremely nervous about posting it.
> 
> This was done for the Specord writing event! The theme was formal, and since I joined late I needed to brainstorm a bit. Thankfully I was able to come up with something(obviously lol) and I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it!
> 
> Want to join Specord yourself? https://discord.gg/cGfYse

The first thing Morty noticed when arriving to the party was the energy in the air. He could physically sense the apprehension coming off of his fellow Gym Leaders in waves. Not that he could blame them.

Though he wasn’t usually one to assume the worst in people, Morty couldn’t help but be suspicious of the new Mahogany Gym Leader.

It wasn’t her fault; she had grown up in the town and decided to take up the position of Leader when it had...opened up. And as far as he knew, Hailey didn’t have anything to hide. The Association had been extremely cautious with background checks this time around, and a few locals had actually been turned away due to this. However, that had only caused more suspicion to arise. Honestly, the whole thing was a mess. Doubtful as he was, Morty couldn’t help but feel a little bad for Hailey.

Morty glanced down at his watch. There would be a few hours until dinner was served. _Gives me a chance to talk_, he thought with a glance towards the new Leader. She seemed to be talking animatedly to Whitney. The pink-haired girl noticed him and said something to Hailey, then bounced over to Morty.

“Heya!” she exclaimed. Morty smiled and gave her a short nod.

“Hey, Whitney,” the man greeted her. Whitney gave him a look. “What?” he asked.

“It’s not polite to stare.”

“What--I wasn’t--!” Morty stuttered. Whitney smirked._ Aaand this was all to get a reaction, wasn’t it?_ Sighing, Morty explained. “Look. I’m just a little...uneasy about Hailey. I know she passed all the checks and she seems to be plenty capable as a battler, but--”

Whitney cut him off. “If anyone’s uneasy, it’s her. I might not have any weird abilities like you do, but even I can tell she’s not exactly at home here.” She glanced at Hailey and waved. Hailey gave a nervous smile and waved back. “Why don’t you talk to her? It’s definitely better than lurking in the corner.” Whitney gave Morty a look and, not missing a beat, grabbed Morty by the wrist and marched over to the other Gym Leader.

Morty thought back to the first time he saw Hailey. In her tryout battle, She had exuded confidence, blue eyes glinting with excitement. Not only excitement, but a determination and will to win. She would occasionally have to brush her short platinum-blonde hair out of the way in the heat of battle. However, fidgeting awkwardly at the side of the room, she had clearly lost some of that spark. She was absent-mindedly swirling something in a wine glass that Morty was pretty sure wasn’t alcoho. Judging by how old she appeared, if he had to guess, he’d say she was about eighteen, maybe--_maybe_\--twenty. Her white coat, blue jeans, and brown boots had been swapped out for a long, flowy white dress with an intricate blue snowflake pattern decorating it, starting out small and sparse at the top and growing in size and number towards the bottom. She wore a silver necklace with a blue teardrop shaped gem and two diamond earrings as her only accessories. Hailey had put her hair up in the back and seemed to be struggling to balance on her blue heels. As he approached her, Morty couldn’t help but feel her anxiety.

“Hi!” Hailey greeted them with a smile. “Morty from Ecruteak, right?” Morty nodded and extended his hand for a handshake.

“Pleased to meet you, Hailey,” he said as they shook hands. “So, you grew up in Mahogany Town, right? It must be exciting, being the new Gym Leader of your hometown.”

Hailey laughed. “Well, I haven’t exactly had the chance to battle anyone yet,” she admitted, “but it’s definitely an honor to be able to take on the title. Kinda wish certain other people would have treated it the same way...” Morty noted the sincerity in her tone and energy when she said the last bit, but also a bit of...frustration? He decided to ignore that last bit. Hailey had plenty of reasons to be frustrated with Pryce. After all, he’d misused his Gym, hurt others, sullied Mahogany Town’s reputation, and pushed distrust onto her.

Not wanting to bring up the touchy subject of Pryce, Morty decided to change the subject, “Of course. But I’m curious, why haven’t you had any challengers?”

The Leader sighed. “It’s not that people haven’t wanted to fight the gym, I’ve actually gotten a lot of...well, not really requests, more like _demands_ to battle me while I’m just walking around town. There was even a trainer who came specifically to challenge me who told me that they wanted to fight a ‘real Mahogany Gym Leader’, not someone who used the position as a front.” She took a sip from her glass, a troubled look on her face. “But then there’s the flip side of that coin. Some people think that didn’t quite believe the news on what Pryce did. They think that the Dexholders were wrong and the whole thing was a ploy. Those people want me out because they believe that I pushed him out somehow. Honestly, they scare me.”

Morty exchanged glances with Whitney. The latter nodded. “Those guys are deluded then. Pryce was literally a terrorist and a kidnapper, and anyone who supports him can look at the photos and go see the smoldering wreckage of the Pokemon League.” She crossed her arms and huffed. Morty couldn’t help but chuckle at this.

“Politically correct as always, I see,” he joked.

“Well, you’re half right. I am correct.”

Hailey laughed. “Yeah, I guess it could just be boiled down to that,” she agreed. Despite trying to laugh it off, Morty noticed that she was still extremely worried. About what, he wasn’t sure. --the Pryce supporters or something else?

There was a brief awkward pause. Hailey shifted nervously and sipped her drink.

“So I have to ask, what exactly is that?” he inquired.

“Oh, it’s one of the non-alcoholic wines,” she replied. “I don’t remember what kind, but the beverages table is over there.”

“I was just curious,” Morty said, “You don’t exactly look old enough to drink actual alcohol.”

“No, I’m not. Nineteen isn’t old enough. Not that I’d be excited to get insanely drunk in the first place, especially on the first day of the job!” she added quickly.

Whitney placed her hands on her hips. “There is no way you’re nineteen. That’d make you older than me, but you look way younger!”

“Huh? Do I really?” Hailey asked.

Chuckling, Morty explained. “Whitney’s a little touchy when it comes to age.”

A look of understanding crossed Hailey’s face. “Oh yeah,” she said, “She’s the y--sorry, never mind.”

Whitney crossed her arms and stuck out her tongue. “Whatever, I’m gonna check out the food anyways,” she said in a fake-angry voice. “See you later!” And with a wave, the Goldenrod Gym Leader was gone.

Hailey looked a little embarrassed. “I didn’t mean to be totally stupid, it just kind of slipped out.”

Morty waved the remark off. “She wasn’t actually mad about anything. Honestly, I think she was looking for an excuse to try the appetizers.”

The white-clad girl laughed. “That’s fair enough.”

“Hey,” Morty began, realizing that this would be his chance to ask questions, “Could I talk to you somewhere else?” He tried to phrase the question in a way that wouldn’t seem like he wanted to pry or interrogate her, but also so that she didn’t think he wanted to do...other untoward things to her.

It was only for a second, but Hailey’s nervous smile faltered. “I-uh-sure,” she replied. The two hurriedly left the main room. Morty was aware of several pairs of suspicious eyes watching them leave. When they got to a suitable room, Hailey turned to face him.

Morty didn’t need to be able to feel her anxiety. It was written all over her face. In her eyes and heavy breath. Her shoulders were tense, fists balled, and she looked ready to run at the first sign of a hairy situation.

“You don’t trust me at all, do you?” she stated. There was sadness in her tone, Morty noted. “I was hoping people wouldn’t try to grill me, but I guess--”

“It’s not that I don’t trust you,” he replied calmly, not wanting to start Hailey on a rant, “but I can tell that you’re hiding something.”

Hailey’s expression flashed to surprise for a second. “H-how could you tell?”

A chuckle escaped Morty. “Let’s just say that when you live with Ghosts for long enough, you get attuned to different energies.” When Hailey didn’t reply, he sighed. “Look. After the whole fiasco with Pryce, everyone’s on edge. Acting like a nervous wreck isn’t going to help your image a whole lot. So maybe it’d be helpful if you vented to somebody?”

Hailey looked skeptical. “If you’re trying to get information on me, to see if I’m working for him or something, there’s nothing for you to gain from this. Let me make it plain and simple: I’m not.”

“I never said that I was. This isn’t for any information, and nothing you say has to leave this room. I won’t lie, there is a little curiosity behind it, but I don’t want to see someone’s career fall apart before it's even started just because of faulty accusations.” He paused. “Besides, if you were a spy or working for Pryce, wouldn’t you be more focused on acting confident?”

Hailey considered this for a second. Then, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “Maybe you’re right. It’s a long story. Let me get to then okay?” She looked down at the ground, took a deep breath and began explaining.

“I was about eight at the time, and my brother had just left to collect all the badges in Johto. I wanted to learn about being a better trainer like my brother, so I was studying with Pryce. He’d hidden the whole ‘Mask of Ice’ thing from me pretty well, except I had always wondered why he stayed in the Gym for so long without anyone else. But I was a kid, so when he told me to leave, I listened and left.

“Anyways, one day there was someone who came into town to challenge Pryce. He asked me about it for some reason, and I told him to wait outside while I went in to see if he was ready. The Gym was empty, and I wandered around inside for a while before I noticed a hidden button by one of the ice sculptures.” Hailey paused, took another deep breath and went on. “It opened the door to a dark hallway. I walked in there for a while until I heard someone crying.” She bit her lip. “Of course, my stupid eight-year-old brain thought, ‘Oh, someone’s lost down here! I should help them.’ So I ran down the hallway up until I came to a room.” Her voice began to get shaky, and Morty noticed tears forming in her eyes. “There was a small cage, and...there was a kid in there, probably younger than me. H-he was trying to get a mask off of his face, and crying so loudly…” Hailey put her hands over her face and started crying. Morty put a hand on her shoulder.

After a while, Hailey looked up and wiped her eyes. “S-sorry about that.”

“Don’t apologize,” Morty replied. “That seems like a pretty traumatic experience.”

Hailey nodded, then continued. “I tried to get him out. Eventually, I brought out my Snorunt and had it use Powder Snow on the lock to break it. It worked, but I was barely able to get him out of the cage before I felt something cold on my shoulder. I turned around, and a tall, masked figure was standing over us. I remember exactly what it said. ‘Your brother is out collecting badges, right?’” Hailey shuddered. Her fists were so tightly curled that her knuckles were bone white. “...’It’d sure be a shame if he didn’t come back.’ Then it grabbed the boy and threw him back into the cage. I-I was terrified. I probably would have been stuck to the spot if Snorunt hadn’t nudged me and reminded me that my legs still worked. So I ran back to the Gym, and I saw Pryce. I asked him if he knew about the door and the giant masked person, and he said...he said, ‘Of course. I know about everything that goes on inside this Gym.’ He stared at me for a long while before heading off to face the challenger. That scared me more than anything. The man I’d seen as a teacher and a friend was okay with another child being treated like an animal. There was a period where I wondered if it was okay for me to not do anything.”

“You couldn’t have done much, considering you were eight years old,” Morty replied, sympathetic.

Hailey shook her head. “I could have told someone, gone to the police, done _something_,” she argued.

Morty shook his head. “He would have killed your brother. If he was okay with kidnapping and physically and mentally abusing kids like that, there’s no way he would have hesitated to hurt anyone who got in his way. You were lucky to get out of there unharmed.”

Hailey was quiet for a second. “Yeah,” she said quietly. “Yeah, he would.” She wiped a tear out of her eye and laughed. “You know what? You were right, that did help. Thank you.”

Morty smiled. “Glad to help. If you need to get anything else off your chest, just give me a call,” he joked. Hailey laughed again.

“Sure thing. In the meantime, I’m gonna go fix myself up in the bathroom. That totally messed up my makeup.”

“Okay, then I’ll see you later,” he said as he re-entered the main area. Immediately, the Ecruteak Gym Leader was confronted by Falkner and Bugsy.

“You were talking to Hailey just now,” Falkner said, his voice accusatory for some reason.

“Yes, I was.”

Bugsy seemed less upset about this. “And?” he inquired, curious but not necessarily free of apprehension.

“Is she trustworthy?” Falkner butted in.

Morty rolled his eyes. “Why don’t you see for yourself?” he asked as Hailey walked into the room.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading! Comments and critiques are appreciated!


End file.
